Reviews (3)

A Mixed Bag
It was a clever idea to ask prominent writers to imagine historical moments, but like most compilations of various authors, this book has some great articles and a few real duds.
Variety is the spice of life!
Just imagine the kind of performances you might see if renowned actors and actresses such as Nicholson, Pacino, Hepburn, Streep, Duvall, DeNiro and a cast of others were given the chance to stand up on stage and portray their favorite characters and performances. That's precisely what we have presented here with a talented cast of historians lending their personal renditions to historical accounts they are most fascinated with. Noted historians such as Remini and Ellis are joined by a cast of writers from various backgrounds that give a wealth of variety to this presentation.
Historians let their imaginations range
Given a chance to let their imaginations round out their expertise, these historians and writers flesh out the incidents in American history that most fascinate them. This is an inviting and intriguing premise for those of us who like our history served up in short dramatic narratives. And it's mostly successful, although, as with any anthology, some writers are better than others, and some pivotal events are more riveting or moving or impressive than others.
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Subjects:  1. Essays    2. General    3. Historiography    4. History    5. History - U.S.    6. History: American    7. United States - General    8. United States History (General)    9. History / General   

Reviews (347)

A Two For Effort
This book is written from the viewpoint of a flaming socialist with the attitude that anything white or European or is overly valued in American history textbooks.Loewen does have many valid points about what history textbooks omit, but the degree to which he is clearly slanted to the left is ludicrous."Lies My Teacher Told Me" could have been an amazing book, but all it did was aggrivate me and motivate me to write a 23 page paper debunking half of what the author wrote, much to the dismay of my idiotic Sociology professor.The only reason I didn't give the book 1 star is because the overall intent and effort put forth were good, but the book as a whole is just far too biased.

an important book
Interesting, informative, and should be required reading for high school and college students.

A mixed review
I have mixed feelings about this book.
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Subjects:  1. Historiography    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: American    5. Indians of North America in te    6. Indians of North America in textbooks    7. Study & Teaching    8. Textbooks    9. Thanksgiving Day in textbooks    10. United States    11. United States - General    12. United States History (General)    13. History / General    14. Humour    15. USA   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (8)

Good lord
Wow, this book is about as dense as the crust of the earth.It takes at least a few reads over to understand what the arguments are.While the arguments in this book are very well articulated, I found myself wanting to shoot myself in the face sometimes while reading this book.It can be really boring, but brings up some very interesting ideas of 80's culture and society.

Po-Mo Schmomo?
Ask ten academics about what to call our present fin-de-siecle epoch and you'll get ten different labels, but "postmodernism" seems always the default term. Although it's twelve years old, Harvey's book is the best I've read about the pluralistic fabric we daily inhabit. It's edifyingly reader-friendly (especially compared to some of the Franco-drunk rhetoricians out there trying to get a handle on our current world). In precise prose Harvey outlines the shift to our information-as-capital paradigm since the mid-sixties, and the causes of the growth of the temp sector and "just-in-time" production capabilities. Harvey traces the arrival of "flexible accumulation" to the collapse of Fordist production practices in the 1966-73 waves of recession, but covers far more than just economic factors--architecture, art, literature, cinema--without any self-conscious Neo-Marxist whistling-in-the-dark. In his project to articulate a new (meta?)narrative, Harvey's book will probably give post-structuralists a new constellation of ideas to obfuscate with hip terminology and dense prose... Best overview of modern/postmodern condition I have found
This is a great overview of concepts that are, by definition, very fractured.Harvey clarifies and pulls together a number of seemingly disparate elements in a masterful manner. Though this book could work as a good introduction to these concepts, I think readers with some background in the major writers of modernism and postmodernism will get more out of it. Dogmatic postmodernists may be put off that Harvey has the "temerity" to suggest that postmodernism might be an extension of modernism or that he finds some good in modernism and some excesses in postmodern approaches but, they should get over themselves and realize that their insistence that "all meta-narratives are bad" is their own meta-narrative. Overall, Harvey manages to convincingly express his ideas while maintaining a remarkably evenhanded approach.I especially enjoy the fact that he avoids the postmodernist tendency to ignore the complexities of modernism and, thus create a postmodern meta-narrative about the modernist project. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1950-    2. Capitalism    3. Civilization, Modern    4. Historiography    5. History & Surveys - Modern    6. History - General History    7. History Of Civilization And Culture (General)    8. Modern - 20th Century    9. Philosophy    10. Postmodernism    11. Space and time    12. Historia Moderna    13. Philosophy / Modern    14. Sociology, Social Studies    15. Western philosophy, from c 1900 -   

Reviews (3)

Calling all educators: A MUST HAVE!
OK, the fact that he is "the" professor who changed the course of my life notwithstanding: This is a terrific book, one that opens doors for teachers who want to think about "what" they do, "how" they do it, "why" they use the materials that they do, and, ultimately, what critical pathways they have opened in their students at the end of the day. An Interview with Sam Wineburg about "Historical Thinking"
Historical Thinking: Training Ground for Democracy
[Note: This review appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on June 1, 2001. Go to online copy at the newspaper's website ..., or see the text below: Read more

Subjects:  1. Culture conflict    2. Curricula    3. Education / Teaching    4. Historiography    5. History    6. History: World    7. Philosophy    8. Study & Teaching    9. Study and teaching    10. Teaching Methods & Materials - Social Science    11. United States    12. Cognition & cognitive psychology    13. History: theory & methods    14. Teaching of a specific subject    15. USA   

Reviews (1)

History, After the Fact
Davidson and Lytle's book is a study in historiography dealing with the interpretation and analysis of the sources used to report history.The authors concentrate on the several types of sources and the drawbacks of each, specifically biases.Examples include written, oral, video, psycho, cultural, economic and political history.This version includes an investigative CD which enhances the lessons in the book.After the Fact is a good companion to Richard Evans' In Defense of History, David Fischer's Historians' Fallacies, and Mark Gilderhus' History and Historians. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Historiography    2. History    3. History - U.S.    4. Sociology    5. United States - General    6. United States History (General)    7. History / United States / General    8. Schools    9. USA   

Reviews (8)

Winston Churchill as Historian
This is a brilliant book! It is extremely well researched and written and tells a powerful and interesting story.
WorthReading
This is an intereting book, full of things I did not know about Churchill and his long history of WWII. Fascinating account of Churchill and the production of history
This is one of the best books I have read in years.David Reynolds has done a superb job of recounting how Churchill wrote his monumental History of the Second World War.The extent to which Churchill relied on ghost writers has not, so far as I know, previously been discussed.In retrospect, it should have been evident that without extensive help Churchill would not have had time to churn out six fat volumes while maintaining an active political career.Apparently, though, very few reviewers even raised the possibility that many of the words in the volumes were not Churchill's.In addition to its other virtues, Reynolds's book gives significant insights into the economics of book publishing in the late 1940s and early 1950s.Reynolds also provides a judicious overview of the relationship between Churchill's wartime performance as recounted in the History and as it actually occurred.All in all, an absorbing read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1874-1965    2. Churchill, Winston,    3. Europe - Great Britain - General    4. General    5. Historiography    6. History    7. History - Military / War    8. History and criticism    9. History: World    10. Military - World War II    11. Personal narratives, British    12. Second World War    13. Sir,    14. World War II - Europe    15. World War, 1939-1945    16. History / General   

Reviews (1)

Foundational Work in Gender History
Joan Scott's "Gender and the Politics of History" is one of the landmark books in the field of gender history.What is gender history, you ask?To a large degree, that's a question this book is trying to answer.This book can be regarded as an explanation of *what* gender history is (as Scott defines it, at any rate), why it's important, and how it can be done.Read more

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. 20th century    3. Gender Studies    4. General    5. History    6. Sex Roles (Sociological Aspects)    7. Sex role    8. Social Science    9. Sociology    10. Sociology Of Women    11. Women    12. Women's Studies - General    13. Women's Studies - History    14. Cultural studies    15. Historiography    16. History / Europe / General    17. Women's studies   

Reviews (1)

a poorly written rough draft of a book
This is an awful book from start to finish. It contains little historiography and is poorly written. Bentley spends a lot of space on the universities attended by historians and other useless details and not enough space explaining their ideas.
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Subjects:  1. Historiography    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: World    5. History / General   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Historiography    3. History - General History    4. History and criticism    5. Holocaust    6. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    7. Literary Criticism    8. Personal narratives    9. Psychological aspects    10. Semiotics & Theory    11. Literary studies: general    12. Literary theory    13. Performing Arts / General   

Reviews (6)

Dull Dull Dull This Book needs to be reworked.
I am a university student majoring in history. I was forced to endure the reading of this book for a course in historical methods. I found the book to be very dull in its presentation and arguments about the historical house. This is not just my opinion but that of my fellow students as well. In a class of thirty people only two or three found the book excellent to use the rest of us found it a disaster. There are numerous other sources out there that present this material in a more colorful and interesting fashion. I am no fan of this book. The book does present the very broad subdivisions of historical research. I disagree with anyone who is in the study of history that allows one book, one professor, or one course to mold their like or dislike for this discipline. I suffered through this book because it was mandated for the course. I did learn something about the topic. So in that way the book did have useful information in it. I just would like to suggest to those who want to learn about the historical houses of history that there is an abundant amount of material available both on the web and published that is much better in presentation then this book. For the dullness and lackluster presentation of the material I gave this book only 3 stars.

Great intro text - which Jay obviously couldn't handle
Great book. Before I read it, I had been confused by the various historiographical 'houses.' Now I know what's what. Anyone who's doing a historiography course at university should read this book because it (a) explains most things well and (b) makes it clear that there is a lot of conscious consideration behind how historians approach the past, which I think anyone who plans to study the past for a living needs to know. Jay's negative review shows he isn't willing to engage in a sophisticated analysis of the historian's influence on history.

Don't listen to Jay!
This is a response to the first review written by Jay, who claims that this book made him hate history, and further, change majors because of it.If this is the case, then that it great.The study of history doesn't need people like Jay!The value of this text is that it presents a brief synopsis of the main schools of historical thought, and an according sample with each.Jay is obviously of the dominant school (empiricist) that thinks history chould be treated like a science, without concern for philosophical questions.Despite what you may think about postmodernism, it has unearthed the deception of the empiricist school.By professing their method as THE path to THE truth, empiricists cut off unthought ideas by setting up a power discourse.They rule the universities, and anyone who wants to become a 'professional' historian must take his/her PHD pill from them.HOUSES OF HISTORY is a great text for the beginner in that it provides a brief summary of the schools of history, which is invaluable in undertaking a historiography course.Historiography is NOT boring and useless, and any historian who thinks it is is simply trying to prevent new ideas from emerging, ideas that might (oh no!) compromise his/her position.Don't listen to Jay. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Historians    3. Historiography    4. History    5. History - General History    6. History: World    7. Modern - 20th Century    8. Philosophy    9. HISTORY, MODERN_20TH CENTURY    10. History / Modern / 20th Century    11. History: theory & methods   

Reviews (66)

Yes, he's kidding
Una interpretaci�n absolutamente falaz tanto de la historia como de la filosof�a pol�tica. Un sinsentido que lamentablemente ha tenido enorme repercusi�n en la formulaci�n de pol�ticas desde el imperio hacia la "periferia". Un deseo de teleolog�a desde la imposici�n del poder. En fin, hay que leerlo s�lo para re�rse un rato con tanto absurdo.

Fukuyama's Teleology & Eschatology =A LIBERAL WORLD DEMOCRACY OF IMPERIAL EXCESS & CULTURAL VOID
The reviewer below me is obviously ignorant and philosophically unfamiliar with the terminal grand narrative of which Fukumaya celebrates in this optimisticly dead-wrong opus, and that is?
History, philosophy, and the question of human nature.
Fukuyama is Director of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Relations, and is thus in a position to directly influence the thinking of the rising generation of diplomatic professionals, those who will conduct American foreign policy for the next several decades.Therefore, this book is of great significance, whatever its other merits may be.
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Subjects:  1. 1945-    2. Historiography    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. Philosophy    7. Political Philosophy    8. World politics    9. History / General    10. History: theory & methods   

Reviews (6)

Dr. Page rules!
This is a great book and I was able to get even more out it since I am one of Dr. Page's students at East Tennessee State.

Extremely helpful book
Marius has written an extremely readable and informative book on the writing of history. He proceeds from showing readers what questions to ask in doing historical research into types of historical writing can be done, from discriptive to argumentitive. Helpful Resource on Historography
History prof recommended this for help in writing research papers in history department.Read more

Subjects:  1. Academic writing    2. Composition & Creative Writing - General    3. Historiography    4. History    5. History - General History    6. Language    7. Language Arts & Disciplines    8. Research    9. English    10. History: theory & methods    11. Language Arts & Disciplines / Composition & Creative Writing    12. Writing & editing guides   

Subjects:  1. Historiography    2. History - General History    3. Literary Criticism    4. Semiotics & Theory    5. History / United States / General    6. Language & Linguistics   

Reviews (7)

Valuable, but only with cautious scrutiny
This author writing about objectivity seemed to really struggle with it himself.There is so much bias present that it's difficult to discern when Novick is speaking or when he is merely "echoing" the sentiments of others.Whatever the case, he simulatenously presents a valuable, if dense, tome about the history of history while, if it's taken at face value, failing to provide a fair and equitable account of the "objective truth."

Deliberate misrepresentation of evidence
Deliberate misrepresentation of evidence and plagiarism are among the most grievous sins a historian may commit. Not only would this do a disservice to our understanding of the past, but of the present and even the future. Peter Novick's treatment of Charles Beard's critics is a case to these points. Just as Hofstadter and others claimed that Beard had misrepresented the evidence, a similar claim may be made that Novick has misrepresented Hofstadter's critique of Beard. In his book, That Noble Dream, The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession, Novick staunchly defends Beard and Becker from their critics by attacking their credibility and dismissing the shortcomings of the progressives. Along the way Novick makes an enticing argument that History as a discipline has been fragmenting, it had been endlessly whittled down internally, and he concluded by proudly proclaiming that history is dead. And his argument is strengthened by its appearance as formal historical writing. But his provocative view of History's fragmentation, is, as Beard would say, only one interpretation. And we must attend to the particular matter of Novick's misrepresentation of Hofstadter's critique of Beard. From that, we might more clearly evaluate Novick's position. Novick not only fails to cite his use of Hofstadter's text entirely honestly, he is guilty of misrepresenting him as well. In The Progressive Historians, Turner, Beard, Parrington, Hofstadter wrote: Must read for every historian
When a professor assigned Peter Novick's "That Noble Dream" as one of the last readings in one of my seminars, I blanched. Who, I inwardly groaned, would force students to read a book this huge in the waning weeks of the semester, a time when the heavy weight of tests, papers, and grading exams rests on your shoulders? "Look at the size of that font! How in the heck are we supposed to get through that thing in a week?" wailed a fellow sufferer, echoing what we all thought as we blearily thumbed through the book. Initial skimming seemed to confirm that this would be one of those scholarly books that take years off your life even as you promptly forget what you read a mere five minutes ago. Now, I've done some power reading during my tenure as an undergraduate and graduate student; I once cruised through Herodotus in two days and Thucycdides in even less time. You learn to accept things like this in the unnatural world of the academy. With lengthy papers due at the same time I opened this book, I decided to power stuff this one. Even now I can hear the knowing snickers of graduate students across the nation who may be reading this review, seminar hardened souls amused to no end that I actually assumed I had to READ the book. I can hear the chorus: just skim through it over the course of a few hours, learn the main argument, take a few notes, and nod sagely in class.Read more

Subjects:  1. Historiography    2. History & Theory - General    3. History - U.S.    4. Objectivity    5. Political Science    6. Politics/International Relations    7. United States    8. Historiography--United States    9. History of ideas, intellectual history    10. Political Science / History & Theory   

Reviews (3)

Spectacular Book
I highly recommend this text for those who are interested historiography and literary theory. While researching propaganda and other forms of "historical" rhetoric, I found these essays to be enlightening, particular "Interpretation in History." Though this book is intended for those in history and literary studies, much of the book has a theoretical basis in rhetorical theory. Those familar with Kenneth Burke will see this some of White's ideas as an expansion upon many of Burke's conceptions of ideology and narrative. Other theorist like Vico pop up occasionally as well.
Copernican revolution indeed
This collection of essays, all of which originally appeared in the late 1960s and 70s, is essential reading for every would-be historian or even amateur history buff.White unpacks interpretation and meaning in history, arguing that literary or psychic tropes govern the discourse of history just as clearly as they are manifest in the other arts and sciences; and that history that lacks self-consciousness of the constitutive forces of its own discourse can rightly be criticized as inherently meaningless, if not merely a propaganda tool for the justification of the status quo. Classic text
White's text is a classic in its field, considering the ways history has always been, above all, literature. This collection includes an early essay on Foucault and poststructuralism. Any serious historian must read thistext. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Historiography    3. History    4. Literary Criticism    5. Literature and history    6. Philosophy    7. Semiotics & Theory    8. Sociology    9. Cultural studies    10. Discourse analysis